A track worker is loaded into an ambulance after he was injured when a forerunner bobsled hit him just before the start of the men's two-man bobsled training. / Charlie Riedel, AP

by USA TODAY Sports, USA TODAY

by USA TODAY Sports, USA TODAY

SOCHI, Russia - The worker struck by a bobsled has had surgery, is conscious and is in stable condition, Sochi Games spokeswoman Aleksandra Kosterina said Friday,

The accident occurred near the finish in the braking area. A bobsled hit an icemaker on the track, the Sochi organizing committee said in a statement.

The statement said that a warning signal was sounded before the sled came down, and officials were looking into why the icemaker was still on the track.

The unidentified worker broke both legs and was airlifted to a nearby hospital.

Kosterina said Friday the injured worker is Russian. She said the operation went "successfully" and "he's conscious, he's stable and he's good right now."

IOC spokesman Mark Adams says "we all wish him a speedy recovery."

Accidents involving pedestrians on a bobsled track are not common but not unheard of either. In October of 2005, American skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace was standing at the very end of the track in Calgary when an out-of-control bobsled barreled into her. Pikus-Pace, who is in second place midway through the skeleton competition here, sustained a broken right leg and the accident derailed her chance to make the 2006 Torino Olympics.

During breaks in training and competition, a track announcer normally says, "Sled on the tracks," to alert everyone that a sled will be descending.